Tag Archives: fantasy

It took me about 200 pages in before I really started to like this book and then I couldn’t stop reading.

I love the idea of elves. We meet the magic elves after centaurs rampage Claire’s village. Claire’s Mom tells her to run into the Forbidden Woods and that she will be protected in there. Claire then loses her Mother and has no idea where she is or where her Mom went and if her Mom is even alive.

It turns out that an elf, Farron, sees magical glowing markings on her arm while he is running through the forest and so he is able to save her from the centaurs and bring her to his kingdom.

Claire and Farron have such an intense relationship. They are both so snarky and brooding and always battling with each other and themselves that it’s almost mind numbing at times. Although I do like their banter. Their reaction to each other is frustrating and comical at the same time. You know right off the bat that even though they act like they hate each other it is all just laced with attraction and sexual tension.

The other elf who is in charge of protecting Claire during their journeys is Aeron. Aeron is a quite the enjoyable chap. He is so full of himself that it’s amusing. I wonder what happened to him towards the end of the story but I imagine he will return in the 2nd of the series. It’s probably that Farron was able to somehow track Claire because of the markings on her arm.

The General, Bren, infuriated me and it bothered me how clueless Claire was to him. He is just a coward through and through. Claire seems like she could be such a strong female role and so when she was reduced to the hand of this lying scheming punk it really made me angry. She should have known better.

Ultimately, I gave this novel 4 out of 5 stars. I wavered between three and four because there were several typos and grammatical errors in the Kindle version which really irritated me. (Although I shouldn’t talk because I am the queen of such errors myself.)

This story got really good towards the end. I’ll admit it took me some time to get into it. There was so much needless foreshadowing. The book says is part of a Siren series, we knew from the beginning so this constant oh woe is me routine about her curse really didn’t need to be so irritating. However, I whipped through the last 100 pages when more came out about Nix and his role in all the drama.

I really like the Ryder character, brilliantly done. Although I think there should probably be more of a back story on his family. How could his uncle and dad be affected by Ivy but he not be affected? Also it seemed really insane to me when Kenna broke up with Ryder. The way that bit of detail played out just didn’t seem right at all.

Regardless, I give this 4 stars and I will read the next in the series. Gotta see what happens with ‘Red’ and Ryder.

This book, by Michael Scott, appealed to me on all levels. For one it mentions Nicholas Flamel in the title and of course my interest was piqued because I knew his name from having read the Harry Potter books; specifically mentioned in the first book of that series.

Brother and sister, twins, Sophie and Josh Newman are spending the summer with their aunt in San Fransisco, California while their parents are away on yet another archeological dig. Josh finds a summer job at a bookstore, owned by Nick and Perry Fleming, and Sophie finds one across the street at a coffee shop. Their summer is turning out okay, mostly because at least they have each other.

The adventure begins almost immediately when Sophie sees something strange across the street from the coffee shop. Four dark figures emerge from a black sedan and enter the bookshop. She attempts to call Josh to see what is going on, but not before an explosion rocks the bookstore sending glass and strange smells out into the street.

While Sophie runs over to check out what is happening she runs into Perry Fleming, part owner of the store. Perry tells he to stay put, but Sophie isn’t about to stay put while her brother is in danger.

Meanwhile, Nick Fleming, keeps telling Josh to run deep into the cellar and stay out of sight as he fights off a man he keeps calling Dee and three other strange clay people which he refers to as golems.

One item is stolen from the store during this mystical fight, it is the Codex, a book which is ten thousand years old and contains all the myths and legends of the world including sorcerer spells and potions from hundreds of generations. Fortunately, when Dee stole it from Josh’s hands he didn’t realize Josh had ripped the last two pages out. The last two pages of the Codex are extremely important and now both Josh and Sophie are in mortal danger.

After all this chaos the kids have more than enough questions for Nick and Perry Fleming. This is when they find out their real names are Nicholas and Perenelle Flemal and they are hundreds of years old thanks to an elixir that was keeping them alive. The elixir is in the Codex and without it they will age one full human year each day. But their aging is the least of their concerns. With the Codex in the hands of evil Dr. Dee the entire world is in danger of essentially being wiped out by those called the Dark Elders.

Yes, I know the book has been out far too long now for me to not be finished, but I’ve been busy! It’s hard to do a lot of reading with a three-year-old. =o)

I’m on Chapter 19 of the latest and last Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I have to say, I’m shocked by a lot of the development thus far and I really hope things tie together or begin making sense soon. It’s making me upset!

You can really tell that Harry, Hermione and Ron are seventeen though. They are all types of emotional basket cases.

A fun fact about the book…after only one week on the shelves it has already been nominated in the Best Book category at the first Nickelodeon Kid’s Choice Awards UK, set to take place in London in October. J.K. Rowlings, clearly, you RAWK!